After the price of herbs entered an upward trend, a situation emerged where herb sellers no longer wanted to sell. They stockpiled their current supplies, waiting to sell at higher prices. Speculators followed in Nie Yan’s footsteps, buying up herbs in anticipation of price increases. As a result, herb prices continued rising higher and higher, so Nie Yan no longer needed to invest additional funds.
When Qin Han noticed something unusual in the herb market, he quickly identified the issue. To counter Bull Player Tribe, he mobilized various guilds under the Monei Corporation to collect herbs and dumped all their stock onto the market. His selling indeed caused Nie Yan some trouble, temporarily bringing herb prices back to their original levels. However, after Nie Yan spent nearly eight to nine million gold coins, he managed to stabilize the market and push prices back up. Seeing the upward trend in herb prices, speculators on the market also jumped in and bought some supplies.
As Qin Han watched helplessly, he eventually shifted from selling herbs to buying them. Herb prices entered an extremely volatile phase. Players began to speculate wildly, and the more prices surged, the more players rushed to buy. Herbs became extremely scarce on the market, and those available for sale were priced exorbitantly.
This unexpected situation left all pharmacies, except for Star Pharmacy, stunned. Their business became unprofitable, as herb prices on the market were outrageously high. Star Pharmacy’s potions were priced nearly the same or even lower than the market price of raw materials. If they continued purchasing herbs from the market to produce and sell potions, they would either make no profit or even suffer losses. Previously, their stock had nearly sold out, leaving their warehouses empty and their pharmacy counters out of stock without any replenishment. Consequently, business at all other pharmacies suddenly became sluggish.
Nie Yan had always kept his funds ready, immediately buying up herbs whenever prices dropped, maintaining herb prices at a very high level. This purchasing behavior consumed a significant amount of money, and funds of five or six million gold coins wouldn’t last long. However, Nie Yan’s funds kept increasing, rapidly surpassing ten million.
Nie Yan checked the revenue of Star Pharmacy, which had skyrocketed in a short period. In just one day, it had sold six to seven million gold coins worth of potions, with a profit margin reaching 70%. Previously, a profit margin of 20% was considered the maximum, so 70% was an astonishing figure. The reason for this result was simple: currently, all pharmacies on the market, except for Star Pharmacy, had no potions to sell. Only Star Pharmacy was supplying potions. Whether high-level players or guilds, these major customers needed large quantities of potions for leveling up or raiding dungeons. Without potions, they couldn’t move forward and had no choice but to buy from Star Pharmacy.
With mid- to high-grade potions on the market being too expensive, many players had to significantly reduce their consumption. However, some essential situations still required potion use, and some wealthy players didn’t care about the extra cost and continued buying potions even at high prices. Therefore, Star Pharmacy’s business didn’t shrink but instead became exceptionally prosperous.
At this point, anyone could see that all of this was orchestrated by Bull Player Tribe. Precedents of items being speculated weren’t uncommon. Scrolls, gems, equipment, and various other items had all been speculated on before, with prices surging several or even dozens of times. This was the market. Although Bull Player Tribe initiated this speculation, nearly everyone had participated in it, so no one could blame the instigator for this event.
The alchemists of Bull Player Tribe turned all previously acquired herbs into potions, filling the shelves and warehouses of Star Pharmacy. Nie Yan roughly estimated that for the foreseeable future, Star Pharmacy’s daily revenue would reach at least six to seven million gold coins. The stockpiled potions would last him about half a month, generating close to one hundred million gold coins. In just half a month, Nie Yan had turned more than thirty million gold coins into three times that amount!
After repaying a portion of the profits to Bull Player Tribe and its branches, the remaining funds were divided into two parts: one to stabilize herb prices at a high level and another to prepare for emergencies.
It was estimated that within half a month, other pharmacies would no longer be able to hold out. On one hand, they had no business, and on the other hand, they had to pay high wages to their alchemists. Without seeing any hope, as they didn’t know when herb prices would drop, Nie Yan’s strong financial power could keep herb prices stable indefinitely if he wished.
The inability to produce potions meant alchemists would lose their jobs. Nie Yan timely released some news that Star Pharmacy had significantly increased salaries for all alchemists, with most seeing pay raises of over 50%, far exceeding market levels. Additionally, they started large-scale recruitment of alchemists, offering salaries so high they were shocking.
For mid- to high-level alchemists who faced losing their jobs due to the herb speculation, they had two choices: poverty or joining Star Pharmacy. The salaries offered by Star Pharmacy were indeed a huge temptation. Originally, Star Pharmacy’s salaries were already 20% higher than those of other pharmacies, and now with an additional 50% raise. Not only that, they also provided unlimited herbs, allowing alchemists to continuously produce potions. If an alchemist’s level reached Master or Grandmaster, their compensation would be even more extraordinary.
Under the temptation of high salaries, independent alchemists in the market began to flow toward Star Pharmacy, with many alchemists signing employment contracts with Star Pharmacy daily. This caused various guilds to realize the seriousness of the situation. They all took various measures, offering superior conditions to attract alchemists to join them.
They did manage to attract some alchemists, but a more serious issue emerged. They had to raise the salaries of their existing alchemists as well, considering the generous treatment given to the new recruits. If they matched the salary levels offered by Star Pharmacy, they couldn’t afford the massive expenditure, as their teams of alchemists weren’t market-driven. For example, Angel Empire had to spend an additional twenty to thirty thousand gold coins daily to retain their alchemists, while their daily net profit was only slightly over half of Bull Player Tribe’s, around sixty to seventy thousand gold coins. The expenses on potions reduced their daily net profit by a third, which was simply unbearable.
They watched helplessly as Nie Yan’s commercial empire, centered around Star Pharmacy, gradually took shape, yet they were powerless because their financial resources were completely incomparable to Nie Yan’s. Although Angel Empire was very wealthy, with fixed assets exceeding two hundred million gold coins, their available cash was only over one million gold coins, insufficient for much action. Meanwhile, Nie Yan now had over ten million gold coins in liquid funds, with daily revenues reaching seven to eight million gold coins. With such terrifying financial power, whatever Nie Yan did in the market would create massive waves. In contrast, their limited funds would risk being swallowed up if they tried to oppose Nie Yan in the market.
Nie Yan’s commercial empire was gradually taking shape, and as long as Star Pharmacy existed, he would have an endless supply of money!
Nie Yan glanced at his backpack, the displayed number making him dizzy. He smiled slightly, now ready to head to Abernathy Grasslands to start building his territory.
With continuous financial investment, building a powerful NPC army would soon be within reach! This was different from Nie Yan, as the Great Prophet, mobilizing armies from various cities. The NPC army on his territory was entirely his own, and Nie Yan could command them to attack any guild or fortress. His plan was to use massive amounts of money to build a territory, recruit an army, and then use the territory to promote commercial development, earning more money to continuously expand his legion. Could there come a day when he could lead a mixed force of NPCs and players to defeat all enemies standing in his way?
With this plan now implemented to this point, Nie Yan felt that achieving this dream wasn’t far off.
At the headquarters of Divine Sword Guild, Qin Han, upon discovering that currently only Nie Yan’s Star Pharmacy was still selling potions on the market, cursed in frustration. This had already become an established fact, impossible to change. Previously, he had dumped a large amount of herbs held by the Monei Corporation to block Bull Player Tribe, and all of them had been bought up by Nie Yan. Calculating based on current market prices, they had suffered losses totaling three to four million gold coins, a heavy blow to the Monei Corporation.
“Boss Qin Han, our Divine Sword Guild can no longer supply potions. Additionally, messages from Light and Darkness Empire and Sacred Guardians indicate that they also have no potions available,” Shen Jian Wushuang cautiously looked at Qin Han.
Qin Han’s face was dark. Previously, he had sold off the herb reserves of several guilds, and although he later bought some back, currently, less than 10% of the original stock remained, insufficient to meet the guild’s needs. At this rate, they would have no choice but to purchase potions from Star Pharmacy. They would be buying high-priced potions and would have to do so secretly, lest Nie Yan find out and refuse to sell to them. Nothing was more frustrating than this.
Seeing Qin Han remain silent for a long time, Shen Jian Wushuang wanted to withdraw several times but couldn’t help but ask, “Boss Qin Han, should we purchase potions from Star Pharmacy? Right now, they’re the only shop left selling potions on the market…”
“Go ahead and buy, but don’t let anyone know,” Qin Han said. Not buying potions wasn’t an option, but if the Monei Corporation’s purchase of potions from Star Pharmacy became known, he couldn’t afford the embarrassment!
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